This review contains spoilers
I picked up Jedi: Survivor shortly after it came out. After about a week of owning it, I started to play it shortly after I had surgery. I pretty much binge-played the game for a week straight while in recovery, and after getting the platinum I then beat the entire game in NG+ on the hardest difficulty in one day before putting it down.
Story: 9/10. Like God of War Ragnarok, this game greatly expanded on the story of its predecessor. The story is longer, with (what I think are) great villains, locations, and characters. I enjoyed the idea that everyone parted after the seemingly optimistic ending of the first game, leaving Cal with a realistic inner struggle for the majority of the first two acts. There's more spectacle, emotion and action in this sequel that makes it much more appealing than the previous.
Characters: 9/10. It feels like every character from the first game got much more fleshed out and humanized. One big problem I had with the first game was that all the protagonists seemed pretty standard, without much personality given by the actors. This issue was fixed tenfold in this game, where each character was able to shine in their own mini-arcs. Cere, Greez, Merrin, and Cal each had their own special moments; Cere being a playable character and holding her own against Vader; Greez navigating the Koboh Abyss; Merrin saving herself and Cal in one of the most cinematic moments of the game; and Cal's monologue at Cere's funeral. I also enjoyed Bode, but I didn't really understand why he decided to kill Cordova. The reveal that he was a Jedi was masterfully executed and had my jaw dropped. Dagan Gerra and Rayvis as well were great characters. I enjoyed the scene of Dagan bleeding his crystal, and his first fight with Cal was one of my favorites in the whole game. As for Rayvis, I loved his code of honor and fight with Kestis. He respected him and was noble until the end; but the one thing that didn't really sit well with me was how easy Cal killed him, even though he's supposed to be a Gen Dai, which is a practically invulnerable race in Star Wars. Apart from that, the characters in this game were great.
Combat: 8.5/10. I did two different playthroughs of this game, as mentioned. On the first playthrough, I did a Blaster/Dual Saber stance; and on the second, I did a Cross/Dual Wield stance, breaking out the single saber stance for the final fight with Bode (which, might I add, I am a big fan of the form that he holds his lightsaber. So cool to me). Each stance was uniquely crafted, and while some were better in a certain situation than others, they were all fun. I enjoyed all the new stances that they introduced, and the original stances were also a blast to use. The new force abilities also added fun combat alternatives which I found myself using regularily. Importantly, the combat was always fun; especially the one-on-one lightsaber duels! The only qualm that I had with the system was that unlike in Sekiro (a very similar game), when you broke an enemy's poise meter, they would regain it after you hit them a few times instead of being able to instantly kill them. This made normal encounters somewhat tedious to complete.
Gameplay/Content: 9/10. I love the concept of a "semi-open world" with metroidvania-esque exploration. That is, a mainly linear map with small dabs of optional content, some of which you cannot access until you unlock certain abilities throughout the story. They did it in God of War, and they did it in both the Jedi games. This design is perfect for me, as it doesn't overwhelm me with a lot of content all at once (like Ghost of Tsushima) and rewards re-exploration and continuing in the story. As well, all the side missions tell you are "go to this location and explore", which you can do all on your own. I really liked this, as there wasn't any endless checklist of mindless fetch-quests assigned to me to complete. Each of the 6 open worlds were platinum-friendly and unique enough to keep me really interested in them on their own. Ramblers Ranch was such a fun home base, and the shoot-em-up arcade game within there was a fun distraction. Gardening and Skoova Stev as well were fun side objectives. I had a blast when I was just exploring around!
World: 8.5/10. As previously mentioned, I was a big fan of all the different worlds. They were completely unique in their own ways and exploring them all was a ton of fun. I enjoyed how you could acquire items that showed different collectibles on the map, and it made platt'ing the game easier and more fun. Even the worlds without much going on were lovely to look at or unique (ie. Tanalorr for looks, Nova Garon for uniqueness).
Traversal: 8/10. The wide range of Cal's abilities makes traversal a blast! Also, being able to ride mounts and such were fun as well. The force abilities helped climbing and such from being too repetitive, and the minimal fast travel was a nice touch. I liked how you had to travel between planets; it really enforced the feeling that the planets were completely different from another.
Problems: Launch performance was atrocious on the PS5. It was pretty silly that I had problems (on performance mode) reaching 30 frames per second in specific spots. I'm not sure if this issue is 100% fixed yet or not, but I hope it was.
Favorite Part: Bode's reveal as a Jedi // The funeral.
Least Favorite Part: Bode's killing of Eno Cordova // Performance issues in important cutscenes.
Story: 9/10. Like God of War Ragnarok, this game greatly expanded on the story of its predecessor. The story is longer, with (what I think are) great villains, locations, and characters. I enjoyed the idea that everyone parted after the seemingly optimistic ending of the first game, leaving Cal with a realistic inner struggle for the majority of the first two acts. There's more spectacle, emotion and action in this sequel that makes it much more appealing than the previous.
Characters: 9/10. It feels like every character from the first game got much more fleshed out and humanized. One big problem I had with the first game was that all the protagonists seemed pretty standard, without much personality given by the actors. This issue was fixed tenfold in this game, where each character was able to shine in their own mini-arcs. Cere, Greez, Merrin, and Cal each had their own special moments; Cere being a playable character and holding her own against Vader; Greez navigating the Koboh Abyss; Merrin saving herself and Cal in one of the most cinematic moments of the game; and Cal's monologue at Cere's funeral. I also enjoyed Bode, but I didn't really understand why he decided to kill Cordova. The reveal that he was a Jedi was masterfully executed and had my jaw dropped. Dagan Gerra and Rayvis as well were great characters. I enjoyed the scene of Dagan bleeding his crystal, and his first fight with Cal was one of my favorites in the whole game. As for Rayvis, I loved his code of honor and fight with Kestis. He respected him and was noble until the end; but the one thing that didn't really sit well with me was how easy Cal killed him, even though he's supposed to be a Gen Dai, which is a practically invulnerable race in Star Wars. Apart from that, the characters in this game were great.
Combat: 8.5/10. I did two different playthroughs of this game, as mentioned. On the first playthrough, I did a Blaster/Dual Saber stance; and on the second, I did a Cross/Dual Wield stance, breaking out the single saber stance for the final fight with Bode (which, might I add, I am a big fan of the form that he holds his lightsaber. So cool to me). Each stance was uniquely crafted, and while some were better in a certain situation than others, they were all fun. I enjoyed all the new stances that they introduced, and the original stances were also a blast to use. The new force abilities also added fun combat alternatives which I found myself using regularily. Importantly, the combat was always fun; especially the one-on-one lightsaber duels! The only qualm that I had with the system was that unlike in Sekiro (a very similar game), when you broke an enemy's poise meter, they would regain it after you hit them a few times instead of being able to instantly kill them. This made normal encounters somewhat tedious to complete.
Gameplay/Content: 9/10. I love the concept of a "semi-open world" with metroidvania-esque exploration. That is, a mainly linear map with small dabs of optional content, some of which you cannot access until you unlock certain abilities throughout the story. They did it in God of War, and they did it in both the Jedi games. This design is perfect for me, as it doesn't overwhelm me with a lot of content all at once (like Ghost of Tsushima) and rewards re-exploration and continuing in the story. As well, all the side missions tell you are "go to this location and explore", which you can do all on your own. I really liked this, as there wasn't any endless checklist of mindless fetch-quests assigned to me to complete. Each of the 6 open worlds were platinum-friendly and unique enough to keep me really interested in them on their own. Ramblers Ranch was such a fun home base, and the shoot-em-up arcade game within there was a fun distraction. Gardening and Skoova Stev as well were fun side objectives. I had a blast when I was just exploring around!
World: 8.5/10. As previously mentioned, I was a big fan of all the different worlds. They were completely unique in their own ways and exploring them all was a ton of fun. I enjoyed how you could acquire items that showed different collectibles on the map, and it made platt'ing the game easier and more fun. Even the worlds without much going on were lovely to look at or unique (ie. Tanalorr for looks, Nova Garon for uniqueness).
Traversal: 8/10. The wide range of Cal's abilities makes traversal a blast! Also, being able to ride mounts and such were fun as well. The force abilities helped climbing and such from being too repetitive, and the minimal fast travel was a nice touch. I liked how you had to travel between planets; it really enforced the feeling that the planets were completely different from another.
Problems: Launch performance was atrocious on the PS5. It was pretty silly that I had problems (on performance mode) reaching 30 frames per second in specific spots. I'm not sure if this issue is 100% fixed yet or not, but I hope it was.
Favorite Part: Bode's reveal as a Jedi // The funeral.
Least Favorite Part: Bode's killing of Eno Cordova // Performance issues in important cutscenes.